1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a marker enabling the user to make simultaneous markings of different colors (including different shades of a particular color) side-by-side or with a selected spacing between them.
2. Prior Art
Various multicolor markers have been proposed heretofore in which closely spaced marking nibs of relatively small cross-section are held at one end of a marker housing and are supplied with ink of different colors, or different shades of one color, from separate ink supplies in the marker housing. The following U.S. patents disclose such markers: Sixiong U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,405; Rosh U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,287; and Tully U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,153.
Chao U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,924 discloses a drawing pen in which separate reservoirs in the pen barrel supply different shades of ink to adjoining drawing tips attached to each other by a watertight bonding agent.
Baker et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,918 discloses a pen with coaxial nibs of small cross-section, one of the nibs being retractable so that the pen is capable of producing lines of different predetermined widths.
Ahmed U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,643 discloses a multicolor marker with a single housing that separately holds plural marking liquids for respective adjoining segments of a marking nib.
Jenq U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,092 discloses a marking pen with a single marking head for receiving different colored ink from several tubes to produce multicolored effects.
The present invention is a multicolor marker having a plurality of identical marker modules that can be selectively positioned to extend side-by-side with their marking nibs exposed adjacent one another either to produce contiguous markings of different colors or shades on the marking surface or to produce different colored or shaded markings of selected widths and spacings close to each other.
A principal object of this invention is to provide a multicolor marker of novel modular construction that enables greater adjustability to produce a selected variety of multicolor marking effects.
Another object of this invention is to provide a novel multicolor marker having a number of identical marker modules that can be selectively held in a side-by-side relationship to produce the desired multicolor marking.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of several presently preferred embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.